


Before You're Gone

by Anatraart



Series: Never Forget You [1]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, F/F, F/M, Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Thomas Jefferson Being an Asshole, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, We love him though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-06 23:07:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15205493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anatraart/pseuds/Anatraart
Summary: CURRENTLY ON HIATUS// This is a prequel to my other story, Only Know You Love Him When You Let Him Go. You don't need to read it first, and you don't need to read this first. This was just an afterthought that will end where the other picks up. //Alexander just lost everything. His Father, mother, and brother, including all his belongings. When his father publishes a letter he had written, talking about the hurricane that destroyed his town, a wealthy family decides to take him in, and give this smart, uneducated kid a chance at being successful.





	1. Chapter 1

Alexander wanted to scream. He had been on a plane all day, dealing with his social worker who was desperately trying to get him to ‘understand’ the opportunity he was being given. It didn’t matter for him in the long run. As long as he was in a decent enough school he would be fine.

“Alexander… Alexander! Pay attention!” He heard the social worker snap, bringing him out of his thoughts. He gave her yet another once over. Nylon stockings with a black pencil skirt, paired with a baby blue blouse. He wanted to roll his eyes. They all looked the same to him.

“Fine fine. But why does any of this matter? I’ll be there a few months and then they’ll get bored of me and kick me to the curb.” He leaned back into his seat in the taxi.

“Do you know how lucky you are? Have you been paying attention to anything I’ve been saying?” She snapped.

Alexander rolled his eyes. “Nope.”

With a huff, she slammed the folder closed and shoved it into her bag. “Whatever. We’re here anyways.”

Looking out the window, Alexander wanted to scream again- although this time for a different reason. The house in front of him. It was a large ivory house, with red colored roofing and green around the windows. They were currently parked just out front, which had a large round driveway, which he was surprised he hadn’t noticed. They seemed so far off from the rest of everything, and it seemed so quiet there.

Stepping out of the car, he realised the social worker was already rambling off to him. “-and since the school season is yet to begin, they’ve been staying here, which is their summer house. They generally stay in their New York house, where their other son goes to school.”

Alexander just nodded along and slung his bag over his shoulder. It wasn’t much, he didn’t have many items from Nevis. They had all been lost in the hurricane. With only slight reluctance, he followed her up the steps. The social worker- he never caught her name- knocked, and a tall French looking guy with his curly hair in a bun answered.

“Oui! They’re here!” The guy called back into the house. He looked to be about Alexander’s age, and by tall, he noted that it was just because he was still extremely short. Probably a side effect of the malnutrition growing up.

Not long after, another man showed up the door and smiled down to Alexander, who rolled his eyes. “Come in, we can finish up the paperwork, and Martha is finishing up dinner right now.” Despite his reluctance to be there, he perked up at the mention of food. He hadn’t had a proper meal since his father left, and it sounded nice.

Now, sure he assumed it was going to be a proper mean, but by the look of the house, and the mention it wasn’t his only one, he figured it was a safe assumption. He silently followed them inside, looking around on the inside. Everything looked so expensive, he didn’t want to touch anything. He had heard stories from other kids about nice seeming families. They had all warned him to be wary of anyone he was sent to.

When they walked into what he assumed was the living room, he noticed the guy who had originally opened the door was sitting across from someone on one of the couches. The guy he was sitting with his long wavy hair, tan skin, close to the color of Alexander’s, and a mass of freckles covering his face.

They looked over to him when they walked in the room, the guy with freckles giving him a small smile. Alexander just rolled his eyes, he seemed to be doing that a lot today. 

“Gilbert, John, while I finish with all the paperwork, can you show Alexander around?” He jumped a little, not expecting the man to speak, and bit the inside of his cheek when he saw everyone had noticed him flinch.

As if they all simultaneously agreed to ignore it, Gilbert and John stood, he had no idea who was who, coming over to him. Without warning the freckled guy grabbed his wrist and started dragging him through the house, hearing a small snicker from the French looking guy behind them.

They went upstairs, and he was dragged into a room that looked lived in and comfortable. “Okay. First thing’s first, before we show you around, we need to know one thing.” He watched as Freckles, that’s what he was going to call him for now, plopped on the bed, the other guy not far behind in sitting on the bed.

“That depends what it is.” He crossed his arms, face turning red when he realised how thick his Caribbean accent was compared to the others’ accents. Freckles had a clear southern accent, and he hadn’t heard the other guy speak enough to distinguish anything.

The bun dude grinned. “Oui. Just curious where you came from. You look very… ah… how you say, different!”

“Oh god, Laf. Don’t pull that confused French guy shit right now. You’ve been here over a year and a half.” 

Alexander shook his head. “I’m from Nevis… It’s a small island in the Caribbean.” He tried to tone the accent down. He hated how much he sounded like his family. This was supposed to be a fresh start, not a reminder of how much his life had changed over a few years.

“Ahh! That’s very interesting. Wasn’t there like a hurricane or something there recently?” Alexander’s eyes widened at the mention of the hurricane. He knew it was common knowledge back there- it had destroyed so much! But for it to reach here? No. He closed his eyes, only to see the rushing water and he saw his brother, screaming for him to be careful. He didn’t notice how much he was shaking until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Slowly opening his eyes he saw Freckles standing there, a look of worry in his eyes. “Hey, man sorry, he brought it up, didn’t know it’d be a sore subject…”

Alexander nodded and shook his hand off his shoulder. “It’s fine, I’m fine.” He gave them a fake smile.

“Alright, If you say so…” Freckles backed off and rejoined the other guy- Laf? He had no idea.

“But there is something I’m curious about.” He bit his bottom lip, hoping they’d be fine with him speaking before being spoken to.

“Yes?” The French guy- he decided he was definitely French after hearing him speak more than a few words.

Good. They didn’t seem to care, maybe they weren’t as bad as the families he’d heard about? No, he still needed to be careful. “What are your guys’ names, because I’m extremely confused here.”

Freckles softly laughed. “I’m John, and the French fry here has too long a name to say.”

“Hey! It’s not that long!”

“Dude, you have like a million names. I feel it’s a little overboard.” John replied, smiling.

“ Marquis de Lafayette is not a long name John.” The guy, Marquis, stated as if it were true.

“Laf. That’s not even half of your full name and you know it.”

Lafayette paused before looking to Alexander and saying “Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier Marquis de Lafayette, but everyone just calls me Lafayette or Laf.”

Alexander smiled. He knows many people with names like that, so long they just chose one they liked and went with it. “I didn’t catch half of what you just said, but I’m going to pretend I did.”

Alexander’s smile turned more genuine when he heard them laugh at his response. “And considering the Washingtons are only awaiting one more person’s arrival I’d assume you’re Alexander Hamilton? The one who’s dad posted those letters?” John gave him a small smile.

Alexander nodded. “Yep.”

“Sorry if it’s another sore subject, but why exactly aren’t you with your dad?” Lafayette spoke slowly as if he thought Alexander was going to freak out or something.

“The courts said that since there was no real proof he was my biological father which, might actually be true, they couldn’t send me to live with him.” Alexander paused. “And don’t worry about it. He left when I was eight. I’ve gotten over the whole ordeal.”

Lafayette nodded, it was John’s turn to speak. “So, again, sorry if you don't wanna answer this, but why are you so small? You’re a fourteen-year-old guy and you’re as small as a 12-year-old girl.”

Alexander blushed. He knew he was right. He knew he was small. “The village I grew up in was very small and poor, and when my dad left my mom, brother and I didn’t have much cash… My brother was 2 years older than me, and he had the same problem. The doctors said it’s most likely malnutrition that caused it.”

Alexander watched tentatively as John and Lafayette nodded. “So, sorry for all the questions, but why do you use the past tense for your brother?” Lafayette paused, seeing Alexander’s reaction decided to tack on a, “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want.”

He shook his head. “No, it… It’s fine. He died in the hurricane.” He gave them a small smile. “It’s been a while anyways. I’m fine.”

And with that they fell into a more comfortable conversation, talking about what they liked and disliked. Alexander learned John was a huge fan of turtles, and he learned that John was just a good friend, staying there for the last few weeks of summer since his parents had out of state work.

»»————- ————-««

They talked up until they were called down for dinner, Alexander finding out the guy who had come to the door after Lafayette was George, and his wife was named Martha, who he had already grown to enjoy. She was small and petite, yet had a loud personality, much like Alexander when he wasn’t scared of making a good impression. 

The meal had started out awkwardly, but it was quickly drowned out when everyone started asking about his stories of working with the trading charter, despite his age. Washington seemed impressed by his knowledge, as it was known he had almost no formal education.

That was what he was most excited about. In 2 weeks they were planning on heading to New York to prepare for school, which started in a month. Alexander was told he would be going to the same school as Lafayette and John, and some kids named Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Hercules Mulligan. 

As soon as they left the table, John and Lafayette dragged him back to what he had found out was Lafayette’s room. They all sat on the bed, the other two seeming glad that Alexander was no longer just awkwardly standing there.

“Okay, so, Herc, he’s cool. He’s chill. You won't meet him until we go to New York though.” John began, a grin spreading on his face. “Jeffershit and Madison? Not so much. You’ll probably meet them soon enough, they’re both trust fund babies.”

“Hey! Thomas isn’t all that bad, and you know Madison literally does nothing but stand there with him and agree with him.” Lafayette gave John a look of sarcastic disappointment, and Alexander couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face.

“Wait, what do you mean by trust fund babies?” Alexander couldn’t help being confused. Growing up in a small village had gotten him used to people not having money.

“Oh, I mean like, they were both born into wealthy families. They have silver spoons shoved so far up their asses-” Laurens was cut off by Lafayette, who looked slightly offended.

“John! That means nothing. Besides you’re one to talk. You were literally complaining about a charity ball you’re parents were hosting  _ last week. _ ”

“Yea, but that’s the thing. They  _ enjoy _ that shit. I don’t know how.”

Alexander watched their conversation, silently wondering what it would be like to have problems like that. His issues seemed so different. Compared to not wanting to attend charity balls, he felt his issues on wondering when the next time he would eat were extremely different.

He didn't notice he had been asked something when he felt someone John shake him. “You alright man?”

“Hm? Oh! Yea, It’s just been a long day. It’s like 3 am in Nevis right now, and I’ve been up since 5 dealing with social workers and such.” Alexander yawned, which only seemed to emphasize his point.

“Oh, alright. Here, follow me, I’ll show you to your room.” John stood and helped him up, Alexander not noticing when Lafayette gave John a smirk and a wink. He followed him silently, John pulling him into a hug outside the room. He was a little confused, but he let it happen, taking comfort in someone seeming to care about more than their personal wants.

When John pulled away, he gave Alexander a quick smile before disappearing without a word. Alexander decided instead of calling after him, to just head in and get some sleep, despite it being early. He walked into the room, noticing someone had put his bag on the bed. 

Walking over to it, he pulled out his pajamas and medications, changing quickly and taking the pills, not caring for water. Once he was done he figured he might as well get a good look at the room.

Most noticeable, was the comfy looking bed his things had been on pushed against a wall. He also noticed a nice looking side table and a dresser, curious as to what the other door in the room led to. Opening it up, he found out it was a bathroom. Smiling to himself that he might actually like it here, he turned off the light and went back into the room, noticing something in a corner he hadn’t noticed. There was a desk, and it looked so new compared to the other furniture.

He walked over and ran a hand along the wood, realising it was solid oak. Biting his lip to contain his excitement, he went over to his bag once again and pulled out his paper, bringing it over to the desk and deciding to write. He knew he had about an hour before his meds kicked in, and figured it would be better to get some of his thoughts onto paper.

About halfway through the third page, he decided to call it a night, setting his bag on the floor near the bed and crawling inside, falling asleep quickly.


	2. Chapter 2

 

Alexander awoke the next morning to a knock on the door. Groaning, he rolled out of bed, slipping on his sweater before opening the door. Nobody needed to see his scars yet. He didn’t want anyone to know that much.

When he opened the door, he was greeted by an equally tired looking John. “I was chosen to come let you know to get ready. George figured we could all go out to breakfast, then go shopping after.”

Alexander nodded. “Alright. I’ll be down in 15.” John nodded in response and wandered off. Alexander went over to his bag and grabbed his only other set if clothing, walking in the bathroom to take a quick shower and wash his face. Alexander ended up throwing his hair into a messy bun, letting a few stands free so they framed his face.

He did one last onceover, deciding to keep the sweater on in hopes to keep the little respect he had from these people. When he decided it was okay, he left the room, shitting the lights off. Alexander made his way downstairs, recalling the few times he had been through these halls. It was so odd to think that this was his home.

That’s when it hit him. This was his life now. He’s probably be kicked out sooner or later, either from his sexuality or all the medication he takes. He’d be with another family soon enough. Everyone said it always happened.

Alexander took a breath to calm himself before heading down the stairs and making his way to the voices he heard, which happened to be coming from the living room. When he entered, all eyes turned on him, so he decided to look down.

The first person to speak was Martha. “Dear you know it’s warm outside right now, right?”

Alexander nodded. “Mhm.” he didn’t want to deal with it. They couldn’t know. He had to be careful if he wanted to stay.

Alexander watched nervously as John and Lafayette gave each other a look, almost as if they knew something. Lafayette whispered something to John, who nods and stands up, walking to Alexander. Without warning, John grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him out of the room, earning curious looked from George and Martha.

As soon as they were out of earshot, John let go of his wrist, arms crossed. “Would you like to spill the truth?”

Alexander stopped and stared at him. John’s face and posture held no real anger or aggression. “Not exactly.”

“Look, I know I shouldn’t have snooped, but I saw you were on antidepressants. Now sure, it said nowhere it was an antidepressant, but unlike everyone else here I know one when I see one.” Alexander’s eyes widened, and he admitted defeat.

“I just… You shouldn’t have…” John shook his head.

“I won’t say anything if you tell me. Please.” John looked at him with pleading eyes.

“F-fine…” Alexander shakily pulled up one of the sleeves. He closed his eyes, waiting to be yelled at, but without a moment’s notice he felt someone pull him into a hug. Warily, he opened his eyes, noticing it was John, who had hugged him.

“Hey, It’s okay alright?” Alexander nodded, and John pulled away from him. “Please though, come talk to me if you feel like doing this again? I know how it feels more than you’d know.”

Before he could ask what he meant, John walked off, back into the living room. Pulling the sleeve down and wiping his face to make sure he hadn’t spilt any tears, Alexander followed him back inside, plastering a smile to his face.

“Alright, well if everyone’s ready let’s get going.” George said when Alexander walked in the room. Alexander nodded and quietly followed everyone out.

Alexander ended up being next to John in the far back seat of the car, choosing on sitting there and enjoying the quiet over conversing, only speaking when someone would ask him a question directly.

When they arrived at the mall, Alexander let himself be dragged out by an overly excited Lafayette, followed by a smiling John. Alexander wanted to complain and ask where they were going, but seeing how excited Lafayette was, he let it slide.

The first place Alexander was dragged into was a Macy’s. It started out okay, but once Alexander looked at one of the price tags he begun to freak out a little, constantly asking if they were sure they were fine with spending so much on him.

Considering he had grown up with barely enough money to eat, he was appalled at the prices. 40 dollars for a pair of jeans seemed excessive to him. The entire time, John and Lafayette kept telling him not to worry about it. At one point, John even felt the need to pull him aside to remind him that it wasn’t an issue for the Washingtons. Alexander decided to just let it go, figuring it couldn’t be that bad. When they were done, Alexander, Lafayette, and John were able to get away, deciding to go get lunch.

They went to a place called Panda Express, which confused Alexander as he had never heard of the place. It turned out, it was Chinese food, which Alexander also discovered was delicious.

“So, I’m kinda curious. Someone mentioned you had an older brother. Where is he?” Lafayette asked while they are, looking genuinely curious. Alexander wanted to yell at him for asking about James, but ultimately decided against it. Lafayette probably doesn't know what happened.

“He… he died in the hurricane.” Good. It wasn’t rude, and it hopefully will shut off all questions.

“What was he like?” John gave him a small smile. Shit.

“Oh… He was amazing. When our cousin committed suicide, he was the only person I had left. He actually convinced someone to keep it a secret as to keep us out of the system.”

“The… system?” Lafayette looked at wim with a mix of confusion and curiosity.

“Foster system.” John answered for him. Alexander shot a smile at John, who returned it with a nod.

»»————- ————-««

John wanted to scream. He was trying so hard not to flirt with Lafayette’s new foster brother, and it was so hard. He didn’t even know if Alexander liked guys.

He has mentioned his little dilemma to Lafayette, who had thought he was joking. But holy shit the little immigrant was adorable. He was trying, and had hoped Alexander hadn’t noticed the looks Lafayette would give him whenever he would say anything that could remotely be seen as flirting.

He felt bad when Alexander’s brother was brought up during lunch. He had noticed the brief flash of sadness overtake him, assuming Lafayette didn’t as he continued the conversation.

John was grateful when George and Martha came up to them, quickly extinguishing the conversation. Turned out they had added Alexander to their phone plan, telling him they needed to be able to contact him. Alexander kept telling them they didn’t need to, despite George being insistent.

Alexander ended up giving in, and John added his number into Alexander’s phone.

“I’m so adding you into the group chat.” Lafayette said, smiling deviously.

“Oh my god Laf, no. Not the big one. Let’s not kill him with everyone’s bullshit yet.”

“It’s fine, John. I’m kinda curious anyways.” a few minutes later his phone dinged, and opening up the notification he wanted to scream.

 

**Baguette has added Hammy to The Squad™**

**TurtleBoi: Oh god Laf. you're going to kill him. Pegs Play nice**

**PegLeg: I haven’t said anything yet!**

**BurningThings: Wait, Laf is this the new foster brother you mentioned?**

**Baguette: Yep!**

**MyPantsAreHot: Ahh. So you’re the one John mentioned.**

**Hammy: Wait, what?**

**TurtleBoi: Nothing. Don’t worry about it**

**NeverSatisfied: Guys stop it. John was right. You’re all gonna kill him.**

**BurningThings: Aww.**

**PegLeg: I think we should all introduce ourselves.**

**MyPantsAreHot: Ang, Liza is Peggy alright? She just said something smart.**

**NeverSatisfied: Idk might be sick**

**PegLeg: Hey!**

**Baguette: I agree with Peggy though. Alexander has no clue who anyone is.**

**TurtleBoi: Alright. I’m sure you’ve figured out Laf and I.**

**Hammy: Yeah.**

**NeverSatisfied: Angelica Schuyler**

**BurningThings: Eliza Schuyler**

**PegLeg: AND PEGGY**

**MyPantsAreHot: xD omg Peggy.**

**Hammy: I’m kind of confused what ‘omg’ means**

**TurtleBoi: Wait, have you ever had a phone before?**

**Hammy: Never had the money. Plus there were only like, 3 phones in my village.**

**PegLeg: Wait, ‘village’?**

**NeverSatisfied: Peggy be nice or I’m going to come and steal your phone.**

**Hammy: It’s fine.**

**MyPantsAreHot: So like where are you from?**

**Hammy: Nevis. Small island in the Caribbean.**

**BurningThings: damn.**

**Baguette: Je suis curieux de savoir s'il parle un français Angie.**

**NeverSatisfied: Ce serait bien. Je crois que l'espagnol est parlé dans les Caraïbes.**

**Hammy: Le français, l'espagnol et l'anglais sont parlés d'où je viens.**

**TurtleBoi: English. Nobody else speaks French.**

**Baguette: John parle aussi l'espagnol**

**PegLeg: English!**

**Hammy: Aunque ahora no tengo ganas de hablar en inglés.**

**NeverSatisfied: Shit. How many languages DO you speak?**

**Hammy: Three.**

**TurtleBoi: Finalmente alguien que habla español aquí. Laf y Angie tienen su francés.**

**Pegleg: Herc, Eliza, I guess it’s just us speaking English here now.**

**Baguette: Oui! Get Thomas in here and we have 4 French speakers!**

**NeverSatisfied: Laf, no.**

**Pegleg: Don’t kill him with Jeffershit yet.**

**BurningThings: Please, leave Thomas out of this group chat.**

**Baguette: Mes amies, come on. He’s not that bad.**

**MyPantsAreHot: Laf, this is the one time I have to disagree with you. Please don’t add Jefferson.**

**Hammy: What did Thomas do to make everyone hate him?**

**TurtleBoi: He’s a pretentious fuck who thinks he owns everything.**

**Baguette: Better he meets him here before dinner.**

**TurtleBoi: Fuck. I forgot Martha and George wanted him to meet everyone.**

**PegLeg: Oh, that’s tonight?**

**BurningThings: Yes, Peggy. I told you this an hour ago.**

**NeverSatisfied: These are not my sisters. I am not related to them.**

**Baguette: Fine. He’ll meet Thomas tonight.**

**TurtleBoi: Pegs you’re on glue duty.**

**PegLeg: Alright. It’s going to be amazing tonight.**

**Baguette: Now, as much as I’d like to continue talking, we’re pulling up to the house. Ttyl!**

**TurtleBoi: Bye**

John turned off his phone and decided it safer to ignore the continued dings. He looked over to Alexander, who had started ignoring it long ago. As soon as the car stopped, John was out of the car, dragging Alexander along with him.

Alexander seemed to not mind being dragged around, and John was grateful for that. He felt bad enough as it is, even more so at the thought he was going to have to meet Thomas fucking Jefferson and most likely his even more pretentious parents.

“Well tonight is going to be interesting.” John said once they got to Alexander’s room.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, if Jefershit is going to be here, at least one of his even more pretentious parents will be as well. I mean, the Schuylers will be fine. They’ll adore you. But the Jeffersons? They’ll tear you apart.”

Alexander sighed. “I guess, but I mean how bad can they be?”

John wanted to smack some sense into him. If he didn’t know Alexander wasn’t used to these kinds of things, he would have done so long ago. “Look, they already talk shit about me because unlike their perfect son, I don’t like going to all the events and shit. Nothing against you, but they’re going to be talking so much shit about you.”

“What do you mean though?”

“They only talk to ‘their kind’ such as families who come from old money, and who have their perfectly behaved kids.”

“Oh…” Alexander looked like he felt bad, which made John feel like shit.

“Look, I’m sorry come here.” John pulled Alexander into a hug. “Plus, they’re like, super homophobic. Literally, 80 percent of our little group is gay, bi, pan, or something similar. I think Angie is the only straight person, to be honest.”

When John spoke, he wasn’t thinking. He still had no idea about Alexander’s views on that kind of thing but feeling Alexander relax into the hug, he hoped he had said the right thing. Before either of them got a chance to speak again, there was a knock on the door. John pulled away, noticing how much more genuine Alexander’s smile seemed and went to the door.

Opening it, he saw Lafayette, standing there with a smile on his face. “I was told to tell you guys to get ready. The Schuylers are going to be here in an hour, since Peggy and Eliza wanted to meet Alexander before Thomas comes.”

“Alright. Thanks for the heads up.” John smiled and closed the door when Lafayette walked off, presumably to get ready. He turned around to Alexander, smile spreading. “Time to get you ready to meet the Schuyler sisters.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Tysm for reading! Feel free to yell at me in the comments.


End file.
